Growing concern over environmental working conditions has led to the development of several government controlled standard setting agencies. These agencies actively inspect and set minimum standards for safe operation in industrial and construction environments. The field of gas and electric welding has come under scrutiny of the agencies and strict requirements have been made to protect the welders from the noxious fumes emitted by the welding materials during operation, especially within confined areas. These strict requirements are closely enforced particularly within instructional facilities wherein groups of welders are taught within enclosed confined quarters. The hygenic standards of O.S.H.A. has set the maximum allowable toxic fume inhalation within welding booths at 5 miligrams of iron oxide per cubic meter of air in the breathing zone over an 8-hour period. Previous facilities for welding instruction are not capable of meeting this standard. It has therefore become desirable to provide some form of welding ventilation and housing facility that will meet the strict standards set by the governmental agencies as well as protect the adjacent welders from the intense and damaging light emitted during welding operations.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a welding booth wherein a number of welders may perform welding functions in a safe manner and in which the maximum allowable toxic fume inhalation is held at a level well below the maximum allowable set by the governmental agencies.
Another important object is to provide such a welding booth that is compartmented to accommodate a plurality of welders who may work independently and without fear of interference from the remaining welders within the booth.
A still further object is to provde such a booth that is relatively simple in construction and may easily replace existing booth facilities that presently do not meet the strict standards set by the governmental agencies.
These and still further objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description which, taken with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred form of my invention. It should be noted however that the description and drawings are used merely to set forth and exemplify a preferred form of the invention and that such description and drawings are in no way intended to restrict the scope of my invention. Only the claims found at the end of this specification are to be understood as placing strict restrictions upon the scope of my invention.